Resource Base

Resource Base - Introduction and Information

Wyndcliffe Primary School opened our Resource Base in 2019 to support the needs of young people within the local community with a formal diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC). Our Resource Base has grown so much that it is now situated on two sites within the school one called the Hive and one called the Honeycomb. (The Honeycomb is being developed with support from the Local Authority so it is a similar resource to the Hive).

Wyndcliffe Resource Base staff strive to provide an environment where children and their families feel safe, welcome and supported. The Resource Base is staffed by a specialist team including Resource Base Manager, three specialist Teachers and nine or ten Teaching Assistants; all with a wealth of experience working with children with a diagnosis of Autism and other identified complex needs. The Resource Base team work closely with the SEND teaching staff in the main school and teaching staff as needed based on year groups for integration and developmental needs. Staffing requirements and ratios are based on our current cohort and individual needs of the young people.

We aim to enable every young person to become the very best they can be by nurturing and encouraging their individual strengths and interests, whilst giving them opportunities to learn new and exciting things in a safe and secure learning environment. All young people are supported to develop and use strategies that help them to overcome and cope with challenges they are faced with, developing them into resilient young learners.

Wyndcliffe Primary School Resource Base, focuses on delivering a specific educational programme for children identified with an Educational Health Care Plan and a formal diagnosis of ASC, for whom the Local Authority deem Resource Based provision to best meet their needs. Young people are placed within the Resource Base by the Special Educational Needs Assessment and Review Service (SENAR).

Wyndcliffe Primary School has 30 places for young people with ASC within our Resource Base provision both Hive and Honeycomb.

A tailored curriculum is provided to meet the individual needs of our Resource Based young people, to develop the ‘whole child’: balancing the development of life and social skills with academic learning.

Resource Based young people are grouped according to need, age and ability, and have access to a wide range of activities, including the National Curriculum where appropriate. They work in small class groupings with high staff ratios. The young people are encouraged to work with different adults to help them gain independence and life skills. Through an understanding of the ‘whole young person’, their sensory, communication, attention and developmental levels enables us to think about where the young person is and identify next steps within their learning.

Resource Based young people access the mainstream environment and work alongside their mainstream peers where appropriate. Attainment and progress are tracked using a ‘small steps’ approach that shows progress in clear and precise stages. We use several tools to monitor attainment and progress

including National Curriculum assessment tools (FFT),
Access to Education toolkit tracker for Individual Teaching Plans,
Cumin and Leach assessment tool for supporting our young people that are working at pre teaching levels (P5/4 and below Engagement model tool)
Early Years assessment framework.
Tracking assessment is achieved daily using the Really School APP.

These small increments of progress are used to inform individual, personalised targets. Each young person in the Resource Base work in a structured, ASC-friendly environment where our staff receive training regularly to support the delivery of a variety of ASC strategies and techniques.

We work very closely with our families to support a fully holistic approach all our young people and have daily contact through our home school diaries and daily email link to the Really School APP

Our Resource Base is at the heart of our school community and the young people currently share playtimes and lunchtimes with the mainstream children. We find that this supports social skills.

Across school, we are continuously ensuring that the school environment and all classes are Autism Friendly to support the young people in those classes and allow access to mainstream for all when appropriate. This ensures that all staff are able to support children with Autism and understand their needs. All of our school staff are trained by in Attention Autism training.

Our Resource Base young people have weekly lessons with our trained sports coaches. This allows the children to build relationships with other adults in school in preparation for their futures.

We are always here to help and support parents and families at home.

Ways we can help:

Be there to listen when you need support.
Providing strategies and resources that work in school.
Offering training to support you at home.
Sign posting to services (see list below).
Making referrals to relevant professionals or organisations.

Quotes from the Primary Resource Base Review Birmingham City Council wrote:

“Leaders were compelling in their narrative around why children in the resource base are doing well and data presented clearly reflects that needs of pupils are being met.”
“The school has many external awards to validate their judgements of their effectiveness and the provision in the resource base is clearly highly thought of across the city and with the professionals they are working with as evidenced in the support advice and exemplars of good practice they are asked to share across other provisions and schools across the City.”
“There is a robust process for gathering, analysing and acting upon the views of parents and carers and using these to develop and improve provision.”
The LA is recommending other resource bases to visit Wyndcliffe RB as an example of good practice and the high engagement of other schools visiting and seeking advice from the Hive is an indication of the quality of the provision and the respect that the school and its resource base staff have.

Attention Autism

Attention Autism

Attention Autism is a learning approach created by speech and language therapist Gina Davies, that aims to develop natural and spontaneous communication skills in Autistic young people through the use of visually based and highly motivating activities.

Aims of Attention Autism:

To engage attention
To improve joint attention
To develop shared enjoyment in group activities
To increase attention in adult-led activities
To encourage spontaneous interaction in a natural group setting
To increase non-verbal and verbal communication through commenting
To build a wealth and depth of vocabulary
To have fun

Stage 1 Bucket and focus attention

A bucket is filled with visually engaging toys, aiming to teach children how to focus their attention. The adult leader presents a toy to the group and uses simple vocabulary to make comments on the objects.

Stage 2 The attention builder

Highly appealing and visually stimulating practical activities are presented to the group by the adult leader. This stage aims to sustain concentration and attention for a longer period.

Stage 3 The Interactive Game – Turn Taking and Shifting Attention

A simple engaging activity is demonstrated by the adult leader who then invites some children to have a turn. Children learn how to shift their attention to their own individual participation and then back to the group. They also learn essential skills of sharing, understanding missing a turn, turn-taking and waiting.

Stage 4: Individual activity – Focus, Shift and Re-engage Attention

The adult demonstrates a simple creative task and then gives each child an individual kit to copy. Children focus their attention in a group to watch a demonstration, then shift their attention to an individual activity and lastly return attention to the group to show their completed task. Children also build their independence skills and following instructions skills.

Attention Autism - AST (Autism Spectrum Teacher)

Communication and Autism Team (CAT)

At Wyndcliffe Primary School, our CAT is Viv Walters. She has worked with the school for several years and has a strong relationship with our young people, parents and staff.

She provides support in school for staff to develop a greater understanding of autism and to empower staff to apply good practice. We aim to have an Autism Friendly environment across the whole school so she reviews our universal offer as well as working with our Autistic young people in school and the Resource Base to provide support, advice and strategies to promote independence and help them reach their full potential

Here are some Autism Friendly Strategies used in school and the Resource Base:

TEACCH
PECS
Social Stories
Work Stations
Visual timetables, Now and Next boards, Work-systems
Whole school behaviour policy linked to Autism, trauma informed practice and therapeutic input
Communicate in Print labelling across school
All staff have updated Attention Autism training

Fine and Gross Motor Skills

Many young people with ASC have underdeveloped fine and gross motor skills. We use a variety of techniques to support them in developing these skills including threading, writing and mark making and sensory circuits (balancing and climbing).

The Imagination Tree - 40 Fine Motor Skills Activities

Funding and Grants

Cerebra

Family Fund

Variety - The Children's Charity

Holiday / After School Activities

Autism West Midlands

Birmingham City Council Organisations and Activities

Birmingham PHAB Camps

Holiday Play Schemes - Resources for Autism

Junior Einstein Science Club

Local Offer Birmingham Leisure Activities

Midland Mencap

NHS - Forward Thinking Birmingham

Outschool Online Classes

Route 2 Well-Being Saturday Clubs for Children with Autism

The Creation Station Free Workshop

Occupational Therapy

Occupational Therapy (OT) supports young people who have physical, sensory or cognitive needs. It supports young people to develop life skills that allow them to become more independent and carry out daily tasks that they might find difficult.

This might include support to help with:

Eating
Washing
Using the toilet
Fine or gross motor
Playing

Often young people with autism present with motor, perceptual or sensory challenges. They may be oversensitive to touch, noise or sound. Their attention and behaviour can be affected by these physical or sensory challenges.

Occupational Therapists provide specialist assessments to identify the underlying difficulties impacting on the young person’s function (for example motor, sensory or perceptual skills). They will then provide therapeutic intervention and recommend appropriate strategies to help children overcome these difficulties working closely with Resource Based staff and families so they are supporting all aspects of the young person’s life to enable them to be as successful as can be.

PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System)

PECS consists of six phases and begins by teaching an individual to give a single picture of a desired item or action to a ‘communicative partner’ who immediately honours the exchange as a request. The system goes on to teach discrimination of pictures and how to put them together in sentences. In the more advanced phases, individuals are taught to use modifiers, answer questions and comment. Many young people use PECS and build upon this knowledge to become more verbal in their communication.

To find out more visit: https://nationalautismresources.com/the-picture-exchange-communication-system-pecs/

Sensory Provision

We have a sensory room with a variety of apparatus that help young people to navigate and manage their sensory needs. All young people have a sensory assessment which highlights their sensory requirements and appropriate provision is then put in place to support each. These might include ear defenders, weighted blankets, fidget toys, trampolines, slides, twisting or spinning devices etc. We also run different sessions using lights, sand and water play, bubbles and play dough.

Social and Life Skills

Young people with ASC have difficulties with social and life skills so groupings to help our young people develop the skills are put in place on entry to the Resource Base. These include: developing emotional literacy; transition preparation (including main school and secondary transition); and table top activities incorporating ‘learning to learn’ skills (waiting, eye contact, listening, sitting, turn taking and sharing), cooking; travel training and others that are identified.

Young people are supported to enjoy main school sessions and or lessons with age appropriate peers which may include them taking part in art, IT, swimming sessions, cooking, PE, Music and a variety of visits in the local and wider community. Young people are additionally taught and provided with opportunities to practice everyday skills like looking after ourselves, making friends, staying safe and learning about the wider world.

Young people are also supported to understand about emotional regulation using Zones of Regulation.

This program teaches a variety of social-emotional skills to children, starting with early emotional skills and advancing on to self-regulation and navigating social situations.

Here are some skills taught covered in The Zones of Regulation:

Identifying your emotions by categorizing feelings into four zones (more on this below)
Self-regulation: Achieving the preferred state of alertness (zone) for a situation. This is all about regulating your body and emotional regulation.
Identifying triggers: Learning what makes you “tick” and why
Coping strategies: Various techniques and strategies that help achieve emotional regulation and manage strong emotions
Size of the problem: Introduces the idea that the size of your reaction should match the size of your problem, how to identify the size of your problem, and strategies for problem-solving.
Expected behaviour vs unexpected behaviour: This also covers perspective taking and how your behaviour affects the thoughts and feelings of the people around youRichmond Primary Care Centre - Social StorySparkbrook Community Dental Clinic - Social Story

SALT (Speech and Language Therapy)

Our young people in the Resource Base may receive SALT support following assessments which outline their strengths and needs, and highlights recommendation for special educational provision. As identified our young people with ASC may have communication difficulties which can affect their:

understanding and talking skills,
social communication skills,
speech difficulties,
stammering,
selective mutism.

Targets are agreed and form part of their daily routine in the Resource Base and the young people will then receive sessions with our teaching staff or therapists.

TEACCH (Teaching, Expanding, Appreciating, Collaborating, Cooperating, Holistic)

The TEACCH approach is used by staff working with young people who have ASC. This method promotes structured learning environments with a focus on visual learning for children with a range of disabilities such as those with visual information processing issues and those who have difficulties with social communication, attention, and executive functioning.

The TEACCH core values that surround this method

Demonstrating a commitment to making a positive difference in the lives of others.
Creating a culture of collaboration and partnership, where everyone is respected and valued.
Delivering excellence through innovative and responsive practices.
Appreciating the unique strengths of every individual.
Emphasizing the importance of continuous lifelong learning.
Cultivating an environment that actively promotes inclusion, diversity, and equity.

1. The physical structure is the first part of the TEACCH method. It refers to the individual’s surroundings or environment. Clear physical boundaries are in place for all of the day’s activities. For example, playing takes place in one part of a room, and eating takes place in a cafeteria.

Having organized physical spaces that each have their own function is important when working with younger students and also students with autism or developmental disability. The needs of the individuals in a classroom should be taken into consideration when creating the classroom space, and of course, this space can be modified throughout the year based on needs.

The use of the physical structure for students with autism aim will help

To increase organization
To make the environment more predictable
To visually communicate what is expected in the environment
To visually direct the student to an activity
To reduce distractions
To reduce anxiety

2. Consistency in the timing of events is the second principle of the TEACCH method. This can be established through verbal communication, written communication, and drawings or pictures. For example, a schedule for a five-year-old in a preschool class for children with autism might include a board with pictures of the day’s schedule. Those pictures might include, a picture of a book for story time, and a picture of crayons for art. The second row might include a picture of a plate for snack or lunchtime, a picture of a playground for recess time, and a picture of a ball for gym class.

Being consistent with a schedule in an ASC classroom is crucial. It not only helps to teach the students the schedule so that they can be more independent with time management but it also can reassure students who need to know what is coming next and prefer a predictable routine.

Children with autism oftentimes struggle with transitions and maintaining appropriate behaviour when changes are made without their knowledge, so consistency of a schedule is key.

Of course, the ultimate goal is to encourage children with autism and developmental delays to accept changes and to become more flexible with their daily routines. Setting a schedule and slowly making changes, adding in choices to make changes, and generalizing portions of the schedule to other areas can help students become more flexible.

3. In the TEACCH method, the third principle is the establishment of expectations. These expectations may be behavioural, activity-based, academic, or for communication. Having a clear set of expectations makes it easier for a parent, caregiver, educator, or therapist to set up consequences or interventions when the expectations are not met. This principle also includes activity measurements. The goal is to set up the child for independent work and functioning.

Establishing and practicing classroom expectations, as well as expectations in other areas such as the hallway, bathroom, dining hall, bus, etc. is a must. Students with ASC need clear instructions, visuals, and a lot of practice to learn what is expected of them. Generally, those with autism thrive on clear boundaries and rules.

One great way to help establish classroom expectations with an ASC classroom or certain individuals is to use a social story or visuals that are reviewed each and every day. For example, right when students come into the classroom, read a social story on the board together as a group about morning routine expectations. Switch over to computer expectations when they’re about to use technology, and go over rules about walking in the hallway to lunch and eating in the cafeteria right before as well.

Setting up and maintaining a routine is essential for someone with autism. Young people with autism typically thrive on consistency. When something that is outside of their routine occurs, this may cause them to withdraw or become uncooperative for the activity or event. Parents, caregivers, and educators all need to work together in order to maintain consistency in a routine from one environment to another and one school year to another.
- Identify each step of a task you’d like the young person to complete, and list the steps.
- Use the steps to create a schedule. Use whatever form of schedule works for the young person, like a picture essay, task list, or video model.
- Use timers or alarms to signal when the schedule will begin or to allot a certain time to a step.
- Refer to the schedule throughout the routine. Provide praise or other reinforcement for completing steps.
- Consistency, every step of the routine every time.
Visuals are very helpful for children with autism, especially those who are not verbal or not as verbal as others. Visuals can be used for any reason, such as when going over expectations, as reminders, for students to use when asking for a break, to allow students to express their feelings, to show that it is time to change activities, or as a behaviour incentive.

TEACCH enables young people to develop independence in learning and to consolidate skills in core areas of the curriculum and in other individual target areas for each young person.

To find out more please visit: https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance

Transition

Resources

Autism and the Transition to Adulthood Tool Kit

BBC - Jessi's Story - Starting Secondary School with Autism

Moving Up! The Transition to Secondary School is an animation aimed to help pupils feel more confident, less anxious and better equipped to cope with the changes associated with moving to Secondary School.

National Autistic Society - Social Stories and Comic Strip Conversations

Supporting Transitions from Primary to Secondary School for Pupils on the Autism Spectrum

Twinkl Primary to Secondary School Transition Resource

Widgit Online - Social Story - Starting a New School

Visuals and Communicate in Print

Visuals, made using the Communicate in Print programme, are a vital tool that enable young people with ASC to navigate through life. Visuals are key to supporting the structured environment we create in Resource Base and support the developing of confidence and independence as well as alleviating anxiety about what is coming next. These include visual timetables, now and next boards and visual work systems and ongoing instructions.

All staff around our school wear a lanyard with a set of visual instructions. This enables all staff to communicate and work with all young people with ASC around the school. It is easier for some young people to interpret a visual cue rather than a verbal one especially when they are anxious.

All classes use a visual timetable to enable all children to navigate their school day, a Now and Next board to encourage engagement and work systems to encourage focus. There are many visual signs around the school to support our ASC learners within the main school.

To find out more please visit: https://www.widgit.com/products/inprint/index.htm

Workshops and Resources for Parents

We offer a variety of workshops for parents to help them support their children at home and in the wider community. We can support with routines, communication at home, being safe and any other areas of daily life. We can provide a variety of resources including symbols, social stories, visual timetables, charts, PEC’s boards and ideas to use at home.

We also invite speakers from outside agencies e.g. Speech and Language, School Home Support, and are on hand to support parents in accessing any additional services or support that may be needed.

5 Favourite Activities for a Sensory Seeker

Amazing Things Happen - by Alexander Amelines

Ambitious about Autism

Autism Education Trust

Avoid These 5 Mistakes - Separation Anxiety in Children

Beyond Autism - Behaviours That Challenge

Challenging Behaviour - Autistic Children and Teenagers

Fast Facts About Autism For Kids (World Autism Awareness Day)

How to Help a Child with Anxiety - A Parent-Centred Approach to Managing Children's Anxiety

How to Manage Challenging Behaviours in Children with Autism - Introduction

How to Manage Challenging Behaviours in Children with Autism - Understanding the Function of the Behaviour

Immie's Signs to Spot Autism